An industrial ammonia synthesis reactor was studied in order to optimize its operational conditions by means of increasing overall ammonia production. A heterogeneous, one-dimensional model and a two-dimensional rigorous model were utilized to evaluate the process behavior. The simulation results of the two models were compared with data from an industrial ammonia plant. The one-dimensional model was found to be adequate for optimization purposes. Applying the Genetic Algorithm (GA) as a powerful method for complex problems, the model was employed to optimize the reactor performance in varying its quench flows. The optimal temperature profile along the fixed bed reactor was studied by changing independent variables including the quench temperature and the quench flow rates. Optimization results show that the optimum quench temperature is about 615°K and that the optimum quench flows can enhance ammonia production rate by 3.3%.